Tuesday Review – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga #7

Saga – by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, from Image Comics – has been one of the most talked about and celebrated comic series of 2012.

This makes it a very hard book to review, given that pretty much every gushing compliment imaginable has been bestowed upon the book, which premiered this past May. Finding new verbiage to pay adequate tribute to the clever twists and turns Vaughan takes his characters through (one amazing main plot, two equally intriguing subplots) and the absolutely gorgeous (career defining) work that Staples is doing in this series becomes more and more difficult with each passing issue.

So I’m just going to give you the bare to bones lowdown for this issue –

Issue #7 is the first single issue to hit retailers since the TPB of Issues 1-6 was released last month. So for fans of the series, we’ve been waiting a fairly long time after a pretty big cliffhanger splash page that appeared at the end of Issue #6 in September. (Where we also meet Marko’s parents, Kira and Barr.) The typical issue of Saga blends together the three story lines, this issue focuses solely on the plight of Marko and Alana as they flee the persecution of their respective species in order to protect their newborn child, Hazel. Vaughan effortlessly takes us back in time to Marko’s childhood on Wreath so as to explain the abject hatred that his parents have upon sight of Alana. He then takes us back to the present where Marko and his mother; Alana and Marko’s father have separate, yet equally intense showdowns where important information which drives the story forward is conveyed. I did kind of feel like this issue was setting up the main action for the next few chapters in the series. But, still, it was just as awesome as every other chapter in Saga has been.

The art, of course, is stunning. I think that what I love the most about Staples’ style is that she can move flawlessly from a gorgeous, soft pastoral scene to something dark, scary and completely grotesque. I never really followed Fiona Staples career before Saga, but I’m excited to see where she goes post this series – I think the success of the book means big things for her, which is great to think about, as the comics industry can always use more awesome comic drawin’ ladies in it.

In short – this is a great series and you should pull/read it (if you’re not already doing so). It is heartening, especially after several series this summer which did not avoid this pitfall, to see the excellence and promise of Issue #1 continued through multiple arcs. The quality of the story matches the quality of the art – both of which are exceptionally high. 5/5

Kate Kotler writes the “Geek Girl on the Street Reports” column for Bleeding Cool and is the host of the Comix Chix podcast (New episodes each Wednesday!) on GeekNation. She lives in Chicago, IL with her dog and platonic life partner. Follow her antics on the Tweeters @AdorkableGrrl or via her website.

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